.243 VS .260 for LR rifle?

[OptionX3]

I already have a .308 as a first basic LR rifle as everyone should. Now I'm thinking about 2nd option. Did some general research reading some rifle mags and various internet forums for each caliber. Now I would like to know why YOU would choose one caliber over the other. At this point, I'm leaning more towards .243 in 24-26" Mainly due to wider availability of bullets and brass(also cheaper). Is barrel life real issue with .243? Please let me know which caliber you would choose and brief(or extended) explanation as to why.
My current definition of long range is; 600-800yrds or 1000yrd max.
-TIA

[Cypriss32]

7wsm 180gr VLDS it will blow your mind! I bought one from Long Shot Rifles.
And im building an M70 in 7wsm GAP built!

[rksimple]

How important is barrel life to you? Are you going to do any comps with it? With the 243, you'll get about 2000 rounds pushing them fast. With the 260, about 3500-4000. The 243 with 115 DTAC's at 3100+ will beat any 260 offering out there. But it comes at a price. You'll be rebarreling twice as much.

I thought long and hard about the 260 for the rifle I'm having built now. It just didn't offer enough of an advantage over the 308 slinging 155 scenars at 2925+, especially under 900 yards. I ran the numbers comparing that to the 139 scenar at 2850. With the 308 offering twice the barrel life of the 260, it was a no brainer for me.

If I were to do something other than the 308, it would have to offer quite a bit of a performance advantage. For me, thats the 243 or the 7wsm. If you plan to compete in tactical comps with it, then the 243 is it. If not, or if they're tac comps that don't involve as many barrel burner stages where spotting impacts is important, the 7wsm is king. With 180 Berger VLD's doing 2850-2900 out of a 26in barrel, they do better than a 338 Lapua to 1500 yards.

FWIW, I'll be building a med weight 243 tac rifle with an AICS for comps. I'll also be putting together a 7wsm with a light palma barrel in a light fill m40 style stock for my long range hunting rifle. I'll sacrifice barrel life, but its the nature of the beast.

[Cypriss32]

Lol I got 2wsm i dont care about Barrel life.

[rksimple]

Lol I got 2wsm i dont care about Barrel life.

Your smith is going to love you! What do you expect on the 7's? 1500 rounds? Maybe?

Are you doing all 180's? Or mixing in some 162's and 168's?

[Cypriss32]

Im gona run 180s for matchs and 162s for practice. I got around 700 of them. And im stacking up on 180s.
I have WAY too many heavy 30cals. 1000 AMAxs and 600 210gr VLDS.
Ill get 1800 atleast i hope.

[dfletcher]

If I were going to consider a .244 diameter caliber for long range shooting I'd take the 6mm Remington over the 243 Winchester. Every little bit helps.

Having said that, the 260 Remington posts ballistics ALMOST as good as the 6.5 - 284 and that caliber does very good at 1K range shooting.

In my "I don't wanna shoot a 308 today" caliber set ups I have the 6mm Remington, 25.06 & 260 Remington and 7mm WSM. 260 is probably the best of them.

[Cypriss32]

If love to see your 6mm setup. Once again, I go threw this with all the high posters that get run our of snipers hide. Theres an reason we shoot 243, 7wsm, 308 and 260s. THEY PLAIN WORK! Ive never seen an 6mm finish top10 at the cup. It seem 7wsm is winner 1-3 place, 4 243, 260s in the mix, and #8 or 9 was 30-06. Ill shoot my 30-06 any day againt anything, I shoot 208gr AMAX and 210VLDS with .646bcs @ 2800 So we can talk a little . 25-06 isnt an well known long range cal. Id use one with Barnse TSX for killing stuff thow.

An 243 can shoot 115gr DTACS @ 3100FPS. Just an FYI! And what loads are you shooting threw your 260?

[Timberwolf]

I have shot, now shoot and will continue to shoot a .308 in LR competition. The reason is easy, I know the cartridge, I get 6 - 10 k rounds through a barrel betwen changes and it'll do what the smaller hotrods will do.

I've built / rebuilt (or rather had it done) 4 LR rifles in the past 6 years and have gone all through the better mousetrap stuff before. When you crunch the numbers (unless you happen to either be a 'smith or have one in the family), reveiw the ballistics, etc. the answer is always the same. Stick with the .308.

[EastBayRidge]

Check here:

http://www.6mmbr.com/index.html

Also, Zak Smith has good info here:

http://demigodllc.com/

[dfletcher]

If love to see your 6mm setup. Once again, I go threw this with all the high posters that get run our of snipers hide. Theres an reason we shoot 243, 7wsm, 308 and 260s. THEY PLAIN WORK! Ive never seen an 6mm finish top10 at the cup. It seem 7wsm is winner 1-3 place, 4 243, 260s in the mix, and #8 or 9 was 30-06. Ill shoot my 30-06 any day againt anything, I shoot 208gr AMAX and 210VLDS with .646bcs @ 2800 So we can talk a little . 25-06 isnt an well known long range cal. Id use one with Barnse TSX for killing stuff thow.

An 243 can shoot 115gr DTACS @ 3100FPS. Just an FYI! And what loads are you shooting threw your 260?

The 25.06 gave me fits for a while, didn't know if was a Ruger problem or a reloading (my fault) problem, but the gun is settling in quite well.

The 260 Rem is new to me, have a converted older Winchester 308 Varmint with a new .920 diameter bbl on it. Using mainly 123 Sierra BTHP right now @ about 2,900 - 3,000 fps. I also have a T/C Encore, 15" bbl in 260 Rem. Haven't chrono'd it but I'd guess I'm about 2,600 fps.

[rksimple]

The 25.06 gave me fits for a while, didn't know if was a Ruger problem or a reloading (my fault) problem, but the gun is settling in quite well.

The 260 Rem is new to me, have a converted older Winchester 308 Varmint with a new .920 diameter bbl on it. Using mainly 123 Sierra BTHP right now @ about 2,900 - 3,000 fps. I also have a T/C Encore, 15" bbl in 260 Rem. Haven't chrono'd it but I'd guess I'm about 2,600 fps.

The 243 will push the 115 DTAC (.585 BC) at 3150fps out of a 26in barrel. That'll eat the 260 for lunch. It'll also eat barrels for lunch. The main advantage of the 243 win over something like the 6mm rem is its popularity. You can get Lapua brass for it and brass in general is more readily available, as are dies, etc.

Now the 7wsm, thats a different story...

[dfletcher]

The 243 will push the 115 DTAC (.585 BC) at 3150fps out of a 26in barrel. That'll eat the 260 for lunch. It'll also eat barrels for lunch. The main advantage of the 243 win over something like the 6mm rem is its popularity. You can get Lapua brass for it and brass in general is more readily available, as are dies, etc.

Now the 7wsm, thats a different story...

Lapua makes a 139 grain bullet in .264 diameter and according to their load book is about 3,000 fps. Don't know the bc and haven't tried it yet.

[rksimple]

Lapua makes a 139 grain bullet in .264 diameter and according to their load book is about 3,000 fps. Don't know the bc and haven't tried it yet.

If you can get a 139 scenar to do 3000 out of a 260, with a barrel under 30 inches, without blowing something up, I'd like to see it. Because I'd use it! The typical load for the 139 scenar in a 260 is around 42.5 of H4350 for about 2850 fps in a 26 in tube. And thats a little on the hot side. You might get that fast with the 123 scenar, but its pretty hot.